George Packer Quotes

We shouldn't require our politicians to be movie stars. Then again, we're all influenced by charisma. It's hard not to be. We all collectively fall for it.

The making of the Barack Obama franchise far exceeded the skill set of Washington's best. In fact, the recipe for Mr. Obama's global popularity can be attributed less to political minds and chance than to the enduring power of Hollywood.

If the media didn't know I played chess, there'd be no angle on me at all.

Sarah Palin is brilliant. She is a media magnet and a media magnate. She creates headlines and draws crowds wherever she goes, whether it's 98 degrees in the desert of Arizona or below freezing in the snow of Wisconsin.

It shifted attention away from that and I've never been someone who liked the attention from the media anyway.

Janeane Garofalo ended up, in a sense, being pushed by the media into becoming a pundit.

Berlusconi is a genius in communication. Otherwise, he would never have become so rich.

Maybe we like our politicians to appear like bumbling oafs. It certainly never did Ronald Reagan or George Bush any harm. The Italians still seem enamoured of Silvio Berlusconi - a man whose entry into a room is less likely to be greeted with the Italian national anthem than by the Benny Hill theme tune.

I don't like being a celebrity, really... Some people get greater praise than they deserve because they have had exposure in the media. I don't think I agree with that at all.

Obviously, as somebody who is famous, I have a particular responsibility

It has become commonplace to call Trump a reality TV star. That is said as an aspersion, the way Ronald Reagan was called an actor. But Reagan's acting experience, his ability to talk to the camera and not yell to the hall, is what helped make him such a good politician. It is the same with Trump.

I'm tired of hearing people say 'Reggie Jackson needs New York, needs the media, needs the attention.' I've always gotten it whenever I wanted it.

Ronald Reagan had a kind of shallow movie-star charisma - a combination of makeup and the skill of a good actor - but it wasn't the real thing, and was something that he could turn off when the cameras weren't running.

I did meet Sen. Robert Kennedy, and it taught me something about political charisma.

From time to time, one imagined Bill Clinton had charisma, but it never really was more than an occasional false glare.

America is so much more 'show business.' For instance, you have Barack Obama. We have Fredrik Reinfeldt. Everyone in the world knows Barack Obama!

I find it so weird when the media calls me 'small screen super star.' I don't think I'm one!

Colombians don't switch on their TVs to see me, but what I'm wearing.

Donald Trump was really cool. I think a lot of people don't understand him. He brings so much media attention to anything he does. He's a proven success. I think people should listen to what he says a little more than focusing on hair.

The idea of the celebrity politician is nothing new, and depending on one's perspective, either President Obama or Sarah Palin are the country's first celebrity politicians.

To be in the media is to be in the wings. Being in politics is being on the stage.

There's such a fascination with celebrity. I think that's a very different thing to being an actor.

I respect the media, and in return, they respect my privacy.

For decades, Trump had no life independent from the media. He became a figure in the nation, and his a monitisable name - albeit quite a ludicrous one - because of his nonstop, relentless, shameless and often embarrassing courtship of the media.

People in show business who are interested in politics, like Ronald Reagan, fare so well because they do know the magic of dealing with the public. This is something that can't be taught in a book. If they can produce after they've won over the public. If you can live up to your ballyhoo, you've got it made.